Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his speech at the summit, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and said, “Under the leadership of our Minister, we closed last year with a double record. Türkiye's share of global exports of goods and services rose to 1.08 percent and 1.3 percent in 2023, the highest levels in its history. Moreover, we achieved this at a time when global goods exports decreased by 5 percent in 2023, despite weakening global demand and the earthquake disasters, which were described as the disaster of the century.”

Stating that the main architects of this success are proud of all exporters and entrepreneurs who are members of the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, the number of which has reached 140,000, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that as TOBB, they are always with the exporting members and support them.

Hisarcıklıoğlu continued as follows: “With the Documents of Origin and Circulation Automation System (MEDOS), which we have implemented under the coordination of our Ministry of Trade, we have ensured that the paperwork procedures in foreign trade are completed in the fastest way. Document approval and visa procedures, which used to take hours and even days, have been completed in minutes. In this context, we deliver 5 million documents to our exporter companies in the fastest way possible, saving time and effort. In order for Turkish trucks to pass through foreign customs quickly, we undertake the TIR Carnet guarantee on their behalf. Thus, we provide 25 Billion Euro Guarantee for Turkish exports and Turkish trucks every year. We issue 94,000 TIR Carnets annually and we rank 3^rd in the world in this respect.”

Noting that they modernized all important land customs gates with the support and coordination of the Ministry of Trade, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “While the transit volume at the gates we modernized increased exponentially, waiting times were halved. In fact, this has turned into a win-win project. Our companies, whose logistics costs decreased, won. Our state, which does not spend money from its budget on these works and collects more taxes, won. Moreover, we set an example to the world. It was selected as the best public-private partnership by the United Nations and was shown as an example to the whole world. Now we have started exporting this model. We have made an agreement with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry to modernize the customs gates of Islamic countries.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they have launched the Trade Center in Chicago, where they provide a wide range of services to companies from logistics to sales and marketing, enabling Turkish companies to enter the US market faster and more effectively.

- “Türkiye has the highest product and market diversity in its region”

Stating that Türkiye has become one of the world's leading countries in terms of the number of products and market diversity that it can produce competitively, TOBB President said, “It is the country with the highest product and market diversity in its region. Thanks to the Customs Union arrangement with the European Union, Türkiye has risen to a higher league. In 1995, Türkiye was able to competitively produce about 1,000 products, and in 2023, this number has increased to over 1,600.”

Stating that this product and market diversity, which appears in foreign trade data, is the wealth of Türkiye, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “It is an indicator of the capacity to do business that we have built in these lands. It is an indicator of the power of Turkish entrepreneurship. The coming period will show this success in high-tech and high value-added products. Exports of high-tech products in our manufacturing industry were 6 billion dollars in 2019. In 2023, we reached over 9 billion dollars. In order to increase this, we need ecosystem-led key technology investments. We have achieved a very good example of this in Togg under the auspices of our President. We have become one of the countries developing technology in electric and smart mobility. Today, as we complete the first year of our mass production, we are proud to bring together approximately 30,000 vehicles with our people. Hopefully, with the support of our Ministry, we will start exporting to Europe next year. Selling Turkish cars to Germans in Germany will be a second pride for us. And our high-tech exports will grow exponentially.”

Emphasizing that Türkiye is now an export giant, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This breakthrough, which started with the late Özal, has made us the most important industrial giant of the region in the last 20 years. The product and market diversity of the Turkish economy is Türkiye's strong point. I am proud of you, my exporter and industrialist brothers and sisters, who are the pride of our country. I know that you will not leave any country where Turkish products are not recognized and where our exporters have not set foot. I hope that we will achieve much greater success together in 2024. I would like to congratulate the Albayrak Group and Mr. Nuri Albayrak for organizing this beautiful event.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu expressed his condolences for Gülbeyaz Albayrak, who passed away yesterday, and patience and condolences to the Albayrak family.

- Trade Minister Ömer Bolat

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat noted that exporters have a big share in the increase in Türkiye's foreign trade volume and said that the difficulties encountered in foreign trade cannot be denied when the difficult global economic conditions are taken into account.

Explaining that the efforts of exporters are invaluable in this period when Türkiye is struggling to build a strong future for itself amid regional and global crises, Bolat said that geopolitical tensions around the world and uncertainties and risks in the global economy have not yet disappeared.

Bolat pointed out that Türkiye has maintained its growth for 14 quarters despite the loss of momentum in world trade and the global economy, and reminded that the national income reached 1 trillion 118 billion dollars for the first time in 2023.

Trade Minister Bolat stated that as the Ministry, they made a total of 33 billion liras of support payments to exporters in the period 2002-2023 and said, “We are allocating 11.7 billion liras of support for the export of goods and services in 2023 alone, approximately doubling it to 21.5 billion liras in 2024 and allocating it to the use of our exporters. We spend 60 percent of our ministry budget for exporters. If we need more support for exports, we promise that we will try to get it from our Ministry of Treasury and Finance.”

- “We must make moves that will make brain drain to our country attractive”

Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), said that as TİM, they started the second century with the vision and goal of making Türkiye one of the top 10 countries in exports.

Emphasizing that Türkiye's largest export market is the European Union (EU), Gültepe said, “We make 41 percent of our exports to EU countries. When we take other European countries into account, the rate rises above 55 percent.”

Underlining that there is a similar picture for the Near and Middle East, Gültepe said that North America is in third place.

- “We must increase high-tech production and make these products world brands”

Nail Olpak, President of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), said that Türkiye will make its mark in many areas in the new century with the breakthroughs it has made and that one of these areas is exports.

Reminding that the share in global trade has increased to 1 percent, Olpak pointed out that Türkiye is the production center of the world today and that it looks to the future advantageously with its infrastructure, transportation and logistics investments.

Referring to the transformations in global trade, Olpak stated that these transformations and reflections should be read well in order to contribute to Türkiye's export vision.